My Giant Poke Plant

I wanted to show off how big my poke plant had become. We had plenty of rain in the late spring and wild plants responded with some of the healthiest and a large growth I've ever seen.

This is a picture of my giant poke plant by the driveway. It was becoming a menace as the berries were beginning to ripen. They'll stain your clothes or feet, bright, purple, and nearly permanent. We had to cut it down so people could walk to the house without encountering the staining juice.



The reason this extraordinary growth is so amazing is because it started this spring as the tiny little shoot pictured below.



Okay, not so amazing if you've watched how poke makes its phenomenal growth every year. This one IS bigger than normal though. When we cut it down the hollow, purple stem was nearly 3 inches in diameter at the base.

The temperature is going to be in the 100s this coming week or so here in northern Missouri. That pretty hot for many wild greens, but the blackberries and wild grapes will be ripening soon to take up the slack. There's always something to eat out there!

Frosted Wild Veggies

We've had several hard freezes in a row, and tied a record low at 20° this Easter morning. Some wild plants were knocked down by the cold, while others did just fine.


Frosted Plantain, Dandelion and Clover

Two days before the temperature drop, a poke shoot came up next to the house where it was protected from the westerly winds. Here are some before and after pictures of the effect of freezing on the poke shoots.


Tender Young Poke Shoot


The Same Poke Shoot after Freezing Temperatures for Five Nights

The chickweed didn't handle the cold very courageously. Great masses of it lay down in surrender the first cold night. The strategy seemed to protect them from further damage by getting them down next to the ground heat. Some of them which were growing up against my garden bed didn't lie down because of the protection they were already getting from being next to the wood and earth.


Frost Effect on Chickweed, The Ones against the Board were Not Laid Over

The Daylily shoots were frozen badly, and the tops fell over to protect the heart of the shoot. I'm hoping to see new growth come from these old shoots, because right now it looks like someone dumped an entire bushel basket of wilted produce by the driveway.


Decimated Daylilies


Freeze Damage on Nettles

Most of the nettles were barely damaged by freezing,. Today I gratefully harvested some undamaged nettle tops (about the top three leaf joints) and cut off the leaves and very tops of the shoots (and threw away the stems). I cut the leaves up with scissors, and added snipped wild onion tops.

These were sautéed in butter (with a few drops of olive oil to prevent scorching) for a few minutes, and I added some salt and a sprinkle of granulated garlic. The nettles and onions were then steamed by adding a few tablespoons of water to the skillet and covering it. A couple more minutes, and they were ready to serve.

I'm happy to report that the nettles still taste really great, and this turned out to be a good recipe. I'll try harvesting quite a few of the nettle tops this way. It will be interesting to see if two new tender shoots sprout from each cut stem for another harvest.

Don't forget that nettles will sting you, so wear gloves to harvest and handle them.